Barrie Baycats clinch third-consecutive IBL Finals berth with 5-1 win over Hamilton

For the third consecutive year, and 14th time overall, the Barrie Baycats will play in the IBL Finals, clinching their spot with a 5-1 win over the Hamilton Cardinals Tuesday at Athletic Kulture Stadium.

Hamilton's offense continued its relative stagnancy, scoring just one run off Baycats starter Juan Benítez in eight innings. The Dominican right-hander allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out four.

"In the first round with Toronto," Benítez said postgame. "Maybe everybody was thinking we're not going to make it. But, look, we're here now. We go to the final."

Meanwhile, Cardinals starter Freisis Adames went just five innings after allowing five earned runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out six.

BARRIE WINS SERIES 3-0

TEAM	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	2
	0	0	1	1	3	0	0	0	x	5	9	1

Hamilton came close to scoring the game's first run in the third inning. Yolki Peña doubled, then advanced to third on a bunt single by Carlos Dominguez. However, Barrie averted the threat when Niko Kekatos grounded into an inning-ending double play.

"The third game has a little more pressure, and I like to pitch like that," Benítez said. "When they lose two games, and the last game is the third, they want to do anything they can to win this game."

In the bottom half, Noel McGarry Doyle stole second base, and advanced to third on one of two throwing errors by Cardinals catcher Jommer Hernandez. He finished the series with four of the team's 11 errors on the series. Brandon Hernandez subsequently drove in the first run of the game with a single.

Tristan Clarke added on in the fourth. After a leadoff double, he scored after two wild pitches by Adames.

The next inning started with each of Barrie's first three hitters reaching and scoring. McGarry Doyle had a bunt single, but Jommer Hernandez's second error allowed him to reach third base.

One pitch later, Brandon Hernandez hit his second RBI single of the game. Two pitches after that, his brother Francisco hit a two-run homer. It was just the second home run of the playoffs by Baycats hitters.

"I was struggling throughout the series. It felt nice running into a ball," Francisco Hernandez said postgame. "I just tried and kept it simple, and good things happened."

"He missed the bunt sign," Baycats manager Josh Matlow said postgame. "That was probably the best missed sign in the history of baseball."

Meanwhile, Benítez was having a notably efficient outing. Through seven innings, he'd only totaled 84 pitches and only allowed four baserunners. He only needed 16 pitches to get through the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.

But, to lead off the eighth, Jaden Brown got Hamilton on the board with his team-leading third home run of the playoffs.

The homer gave the Cardinals dugout some energy, but Benítez retired the side and Carlos Sano pitched a scoreless ninth to settle it.

Benítez ended up throwing 100 pitches in eight innings. While he could've completed the game, both him and Matlow felt good about giving Sano an inning of work.

"[Benítez] probably would've went nine," Matlow said. "With Sano not pitching this entire series... I didn't want to put him out for 11 days, so we wanted to get him to work. It really didn't matter if it was 9-0."

"[Sano] sent me a message today. He said, 'throw eight, leave me one,'" Benítez joked. "I threw the eighth, I said, 'you have work to do, go get ready.'"

In the ninth, with a runner on, Tyler Duncan struck out looking on a pitch the former MVP adamantly disagreed with. It was Duncan's sixth strikeout of the series, and fifth looking. He finished the series just one-for-11 with a walk.

Cardinals pitching coach Ángel Castro and reliever Caleb Seroski were each subsequently ejected after expressing their frustrations from the dugout.

Sano got into a save situation by allowing a single to Jommer Hernandez, which put the tying run on deck. Nonetheless, he eliminated the Cardinals by striking out Brown.

FAMILY AFFAIR

After Brandon Hernandez won the IBL title in 2024 with Barrie, he's made the Finals for the second time in two years. But this time, his brother, Francisco, is along for the ride with them hitting next to each other in the Baycats order and playing next to each other on defence.

"It feels like Little League again, just déjà vu," Francisco said.

In the 2024 playoffs, Brandon led the league in RBI with 21. This time around, Francisco holds the co-lead with 9.

FUN FACT

Tuesday's Finals berth-clinching win for Barrie came one year to the day that the team closed out its semifinal series at home against London.

Benítez also started that game for the Baycats, and Sano closed it with a strikeout. In fact, Benítez started each of Barrie's last four series-clinching games at home.

KEY STAT

Hamilton scored just two runs in the three-game series. The last time the Cardinals scored two runs or fewer over a three-game span was June 2015.

"Hamilton will say 'our bats went cold,'" Matlow said. "I think our pitching was just hot. We did the little things, we got guys over, we manufactured runs. That's what good teams do."

UP NEXT

Game one of the 2025 IBL Finals will be Saturday. If Guelph wins its semifinal series over Welland, Barrie will have the home-field advantage. Otherwise, Welland will host.

Frank Garcés (2-0, 1.56 ERA), the 2024 IBL playoff MVP, is set to start game one for Barrie.

AROUND THE INTERCOUNTY

WELLAND LEADS SERIES 2-1

TEAM	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	8	2
	0	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	x	5	9	4